Hi, I’m Rowena Wise. I'm a singer-songwriter and folk musician from Melbourne, Australia.

I grew up in a family band in Margaret River, WA. We played a mixture of folk, traditional, blues, Celtic and originals, performing our first gig when I was 8 years old at the Bridgetown Blues festival. I was just banging an egg-shaker on the ground and squeaking out harmonies, but it soon led to a rich musical education and journey that I embarked upon along with my two older sisters, Ruth Wise and Lucy Wise (Lucy Wise & The B'Gollies). We were taught to play multiple instruments by mum (Louisa Wise) and dad (Scott Wise), while dad built the instruments mainly with fine Australian woods in his profession as a luthier.

Margaret River is a beautiful coastal town, and pretty sheltered despite the many tourists, so typically it was great for incubating our musical talents as a family of independent artists. For a long time we traveled, toured and played gigs, all over Australia and even America and Ireland. So I’ve been brought up in surroundings that highlight the importance of creativity and the arts, and the relationship that music has with people.

I’m 21 now, and i moved from WA to Melbourne 3 years ago to pursue music and study at University. Since then, I've been writing songs, befriending some great musos and grabbing all the opportunities that come my way. I joined a 5 piece trad/old-timey band called Stray Hens. Then, at the National Folk Festival earlier this year, I placed as one of the winners of the Folk Alliance Youth Awards. This provided me with support and inspiration to further develop my presence as a soloist.

This led to the recording of my first solo 6-track EP with Nick Huggins, which is happening at the moment. Nick has been an absolute treat to work with, and we have very similar visions as to what this EP will blossom into. It is centred around the lyrics, which are quirky and poetic. There will be ukulele, guitar, double bass, accordion, strings, harmonies and lots of other little flourishes that make the songs sound special. Nick and I recorded the base tracks in a little church-turned-art studio down the coast from Melbourne, which will give the songs a space of warm, natural vibrancy.

For this project I’ve had the pleasure of working with several skilled musicians, all of whom are friends old and new. I was stoked to have the formidable Liz Frencham on board; she is playing double bass on the EP. She’s come up with parts that complement the ukulele really well, and help to drive the energy within the songs. I also had my friends Maggie and Elsie Rigby (The Mae Trio), Finn Bennet (Officer Parrot) and my wonderful musical-aficionado mum Louisa Wise record parts on songs.

I am also designing the CD artwork myself, for which I have had to stop being a klutz around computers. That’s been interesting to say the least! 

Overall, the whole process is such an exciting and enriching experience, and I cannot wait to share the final product with all you guys. It is great to be surrounded by such supportive and inspiring people who have helped in making me realise my goal is so achievable and I can reach it.

I am doing this Pozible campaign so that everyone can pre-buy the EP and other things on offer, so you can be part of my first solo musical creation going out into the world. This will help me pay for the recording, musicians, and packaging of the EP (hopefully some vinyl!) so your support would mean the world to me.

I’ve got a chockas-full summer coming up, with heaps of festivals and tours so I hope see you out on the road, at shows and around the festivals!


Thanks

Rowena

$2000- Recording & Mixing
$600 - Mastering
$1600 - Printing + Duplicating CDs
$800  - Guest musicians

Any extra funds will be used to purchase vinyl!